News: We would like to thank and hug every one of you for making this video Youtube video
News: We would like to thank and hug every one of you for making this video Youtube video of the year! Check out our video thank you message here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99CuM6abT2Q
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Sometimes, a hug is all what we need. Free hugs is a real life controversial story of Juan Mann, A man whos sole mission was to reach out and hug a stranger to brighten up their lives.
In this age of social disconnectivity and lack of human contact, the effects of the Free Hugs campaign became phenomenal.
As this symbol of human hope spread accross the city, police and officials ordered the Free Hugs campaign BANNED. What we then witness is the true spirit of humanity come together in what can only be described as awe inspiring.
In the Spirit of the free hugs campaign, PASS THIS TO A FRIEND and HUG A STRANGER! After all, If you can reach just one person...
Music by Sick Puppies. Their album is out April 3rd called "Dressed Up As Life". Go out and support these guys.
(Visit http://sickpuppies.net or http://myspace.com/sickpuppies for the music)
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PS. The response to this video has been nothing short of overwhelming and touching. Hugs to every single one of you who messaged. There has been thousands of emails from all over the world by people seeking to participate in the Free Hugs campaign and asking for permission. You do not need permission. This is the peoples movement, this is *your* movement. With nothing but your bare hands you can make THE difference.
Imagine all the people.
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http://www.freehugscampaign.org
http://www.myspace.com/freehugscampaign
Press/media/management contact:
paul.stepanek@oninternational.com
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Added: 1 year ago
Views: 28,450,427
In representative democracy people abdicate their power to elected officials. The candidat
In representative democracy people abdicate their power to elected officials. The candidates' stated policies are limited to a few vague generalities, and once they are elected there is little control over their actual decisions on hundreds of issues - apart from the feeble threat of changing one's vote, a few years later, to some equally uncontrollable rival politician. Representatives are dependent on the wealthy for bribes and campaign contributions; they are subordinate to the owners of the mass media, who decide which issues get the publicity; and they are almost as ignorant and powerless as the general public regarding many important matters that are determined by unelected bureaucrats and independent agencies. Overt dictators may sometimes be overthrown, but the real rulers in "democratic" regimes, the tiny minority who own or control virtually everything, are never voted in and never voted out. Most people don't even know who they are.
In the name of realism, reformists limit themselves to pursuing "winnable" objectives, yet even when they win some little adjustment in the system it is usually offset by some other development at another level. This doesn't mean that reforms are irrelevant, merely that they are insufficient. We have to keep resisting particular evils, but we also have to recognize that the system will keep generating new ones until we put an end to it. To suppose that a series of reforms will eventually add up to a qualitative change is like thinking we can get across a ten-foot chasm by a series of one-foot hops.
We know that antiquated styles of protest-marches, hand held signs, and gatherings are now powerless to effect real change because they have become such a predictable part of the status quo. We know that post-Marxist jargon is off-putting because it really is a language of mere academic dispute, not a weapon capable of undermining systems of control. We know that all the infighting, splinter groups and endless quarrels over ephemeral theories can never effect any real change in the world we experience from day to day. We know that no matter who is in office, what laws are on the books, what "ism"s the intellectuals march under, the content of our lives will remain the same. And our boredom is proof that these "politics" are not the key to any real transformation of life.
However, in truth there is nothing more important than politics. NOT the politics of American "democracy" and law, of who is elected state legislator to sign the same bills and perpetuate the same system. Not the politics of the "I got involved with the radical left because I enjoy quibbling over trivial details and writing rhetorically about an unreachable utopia" anarchists. Not the politics of any leader or ideology that demands that we make sacrifices for "the cause." But the politics of our everyday lives. When we separate politics from the immediate, everyday experiences of individual men and women, it becomes completely irrelevant. Indeed, it becomes the private domain of wealthy, comfortable intellectuals, who can trouble themselves with such dreary, theoretical things. When we involve ourselves in politics out of a sense of obligation, and make political action into a dull responsibility rather than an exciting game that is worthwhile for its own sake, we scare away people whose lives are already far too dull for any more tedium. When we make politics into a lifeless thing, a joyless thing, a dreadful responsibility, it becomes just another weight upon people, rather than a means to lift weight from people. And thus we ruin the idea of politics for the people to whom it should be most important. For everyone has a stake in considering their lives, in asking themselves what they want out of life and how they can get it. But politics often look to us like a miserable, self-referential, pointless middle class/bohemian game, a game with no relevance to the real lives we are living out.
What should be political? Whether we enjoy what we do to get food and shelter. Whether we feel like our daily interactions with our friends, neighbors, and coworkers are fulfilling. Whether we have the opportunity to live each day the way we desire to. And "politics" should consist not of merely discussing these questions, but of acting directly to improve our lives in the immediate present. Acting in a way that is itself entertaining, exciting, joyous - because political action that is tedious, tiresome, and oppressive can only perpetuate tedium, fatigue, and oppression in our lives. No more time should be wasted debating over issues that will be irrelevant when we must go to work again the next day. No more predictable ritual protests that the authorities know all too well how to deal with; clearly, those won't get us anywhere. Never again shall we "sacrifice ourselves for the cause." For happiness in our own lives and the lives of our fellows, must be our cause!
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Added: 1 year ago
Views: 4,218
A brief description of what anarchism is really about.
Sources:
http://www.akpress.org
A brief description of what anarchism is really about.
Sources:
http://www.akpress.org/2006/items/anarchisminamericaakpress
http://www.psfp.com/
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Added: 1 year ago
Views: 7,466
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Libertarians were more aware of the social struggle. They were kept informed by the anarch
Libertarians were more aware of the social struggle. They were kept informed by the anarchist newspaper "Spain and the World", which even included references to women from time to time; a report from Mujeres Libres; mention of the importance of mothers as educators, and the necessity of freeing them from religion; the caption to a picture - "Spanish Women, too, enjoy Freedom: The Church will dictate no more" Emma Goldman, official delegate of the CNT-FAI in Britain, estimated in an interview that women had not yet been given the chance to contribute much, and were insufficiently awakened and advanced; she judged that they had changed since 1929 however, becoming more alert and interested in social struggle.
But even Emma Goldman and other writers in "Spain and the World", despite their awareness of what was going on, tended to place increasing emphasis on "antifascism" first and foremost. The militarization of the militias, attacks on elements, and suppression of the collectives left less and less that libertarians could point to as positive. At the same time, a paradoxical determination was engendered to foster the idea of a vital struggle against fascism, so that everything that had been gone through would not appear useless. Of course it was possible to take the position that anything was better than fascism, but the "anything" one thereby helped to bring about was NOT the social revolution.
Until comparatively recently, it was almost necessary to justify the term "Revolution" in connection with the Spanish events of 1936 and after, so thoroughly had the social aspects of the struggle been obscured. It might still have to be defended against purists who disparage the collectivization as "self-managed capitalism". Even if this description were strictly accurate from a narrowly economist viewpoint, to deny any other significance to what happened would be to adopt blinders. Neither can the failure to abolish "legitimate" government negate the value of the experience - "dual power" is a feature of revolutions. In spite of - and because of - its limitations, the Spanish Revolution requires and repays critical study.
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Added: 10 months ago
Views: 2,629
As the initial revolutionary impetus slowed, and the forces on the Republican side geared
As the initial revolutionary impetus slowed, and the forces on the Republican side geared themselves to the task of winning the war, the contribution made by women did not diminish, but became more supportive in character. By November, there were some militia-women still in the front rank, but their numbers were now few; they were more usually to be found as orderlies, cooking and washing behind the lines. To the external-causes of hardship were added the developing conflicts within the anti-fascist camp. The Communist Party, an insignificant group in Spanish politics at the start of the civil war, was extending its sphere of activity and tightening its hold on the Republican forces, backed by Russian military and political intervention. Women were a priority target, along with youth and cultural circles, when it came to making converts. Front organizations included the Union of Girls, Anti-Fascist Women, and the Union of Young Mothers.
A physical clash came in the Barcelona May Days, 1937, when an attack on the Telephone Exchange by government forces intent on "disarming the rearguard" provoked fierce resistance. Once again the value of libertarian-participation in government - for the government - was demonstrated. At a time when, after three days fighting, it has been estimated that libertarian comrades and the POUM controlled four-fifths of Barcelona, the CNT-FAI leaders were called in to cool the situation. Appeals from Mariano Vasquez, Secretary of the National Committee of the CNT, and Garcia Oliver, an anarchist Minister of Justice, failed to pacify the workers. Federica Montseny was then sent on behalf of the Valencia Government (it had moved from Madrid with the Nationalist advance) after troops had been withdrawn from the front to send to Barcelona if necessary. She had obtained the government's agreement that "these forces were not to be sent until such time as the Minister of Health should judge it necessary to do so," thus envisaging the possibility that an anarchist Minister might give the O.K. for troops to be used against the working class. The net result was confusion, demoralization, and concessions from the CNT side.
The "leading militants" seem to have taken the view that it was playing the enemy's game to give the Communist Party an excuse for attacking its opponents. Whether or not it needed an excuse, the fizzling out of the May Days' brief explosion enabled the CP to strengthen its position, forcing the anarchist Ministers into opposition and proscribing the POUM. Women were among its victims - those arrested included hospital nurses and wives of POUM members. Emma Goldman visited six female "politicals" in the women's prison, including Katia Landau, who urged anti-fascist prisoners to hunger strike and was herself released after two hunger strikes.
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Added: 10 months ago
Views: 5,359
In the response to the military insurrection of July 18, 1936 against the Republic there w
In the response to the military insurrection of July 18, 1936 against the Republic there was a powerful element of spontaneity. Events overtook the parties and leaders, including the "leading militants" of the CNT-FAI (National Confederation of Labor, and the Spanish Anarchist Federation). Women played an active part. They were dominant in the response to the uprising and formed the backbone of resistance. They were present everywhere - on committees, in the militias, and on the front line. In the early battles of the civil war, women fought alongside men as a matter of course.
The Spanish Revolution in its first phase brought new possibilities for women, in the zones not taken over by the Nationalists, and an element of personal liberation for some. One group which attempted to get a libertarian perspective on the situation was Mujeres Libres (Free Women). By the end of September I936 it had seven Labor Sections - Transport, Public Services, Nursing, Clothing, Mobile Brigades for non-specialists, and brigades able to substitute for men needed in the war. The federation grew, organizing for women to make the maximum contribution to whatever practical work had to be done. Its members saw themselves as having an important educational function, working to emancipate women from the traditional passivity, ignorance and exploitation that enslaved them, and towards a real understanding between men and women, who would work together without excluding each other. They saw a need to awaken women to vital consciousness of their movement, and convince them that isolated and purely feminine activity was now impossible. They saw themselves as based on comprehensive human aspirations for emancipation, realizable only in social revolution, which would liberate women from the stagnation of mediocrity.
The Nationalist threat was forcibly present, providing at first a stimulus as well as menace to revolutionary action, as people took the fight against it into their own hands. The stand made for Madrid against the Nationalist army in early November 1936 renewed the spirit of the immediate response to the military rising, and again women played as great a part as in the first days of the war. A women's battalion fought before Segovia Bridge. At Gestafe, in the centre of the northern front, women were under fire all morning and were among the last to leave. In the retreat to Madrid, occasional militia women were to be seen - some more soldierly in appearance than the men, others neat, groomed and made-up.
Inside the city, women organized mass demonstrations, devised propaganda and slogans including the famous "No Paseran" ("They Shall Not Pass", accredited to La Pasionara), and built barricades, often with 'the help of children and sometimes under fire. Committees were set up based on districts, houses and blocks, for the provision of food, ammunition and communications. Women contributed actively to the defense, including anti-aircraft observation, and surveillance of fifth- column suspects. Their committees organized collective meals and laundry; the crèches and maternity homes set up between July and October carried on as best they could. Some have described the spread of House and Neighborhood Committees as amounting to a second Madrid Revolution, the basis of a genuine Commune.
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Added: 10 months ago
Views: 7,340
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